March 19, 2025 • 15 mins
The Rec Center is OPEN in Downtown Marion, thanks to a colaboration with many organizations, including the Marion Family YMCA. Andrew Grimes, from The Y, joined the podcast to give us all the details!
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Joining me in studio today is Andrew Grimes. He is
a senior program director with the Marion Family YMCA. And
Andrew is one of the guys behind putting together The Wreck,
which is the recreation center as a lot of folks know,
going all the way back to the Freshman Building, as
some folks of my age and a little older are
very familiar with, that facility is now the Wreck and
(00:23):
it is the programming is put on by the Marion
Family YMCA. And Andrew, thanks for joining the show. I
know you are very excited about this project that just
got open a little while ago. So first of all,
tell everybody what is the Wreck and how is the
why involved?
Speaker 2 (00:39):
Yeah, absolutely, and thank you for having me. So the
Wreck is came about with a partnership with Marrion City,
Marrin City Schools or other partners Travers, Marin tech Osum,
Marion Public Library, the Void and many others. So the
idea behind it is just to give teams a safe
place to be in the commune, to not only have
(01:02):
recreation like the gym or video games things like that,
but resources letting them know a here's what's in your
back door. You know, you have OSUM, you have Marin Tech.
You have trivers that's engaged with the teams and give
them many possibilities, many resources that we can so everything
(01:23):
just kind of aligned. I had the grant money at
the time to furnish it. We ran a team leader
program last summer and just the partnership everything was perfect
to get the started. So we officially opened on the tenth.
So what is composed of the building. So we have
a full court gym, We have a team lounge which
is kind of a study space where they can just
(01:44):
hang out, watch TV. We have board games, we'll have
trivia nights, those kind of things. In there are team leaders,
which is a great group of teen youths. So we
have about sixty team members in that. So they do
community service projects things like that. They meet every other
Monday in there. So if we have a team hanging
out the building and they're not part of that, they're
welcome to going there and just sit in and if
(02:06):
it's for them, they can ask Toy, our team director,
more questions, or if it's that was cool, but I'm
not interested, that's fine too. But they help us. They've
helped pick paint colors, they've helped pick furniture. They help
us make decisions because we can guests all day about
what teams want, but if we ask teams directly, we're
we're gonna get the right answer.
Speaker 1 (02:25):
Absolutely.
Speaker 2 (02:26):
So upstairs we have our art Maker Space room, so
we'll be doing a lot of art programs in there.
We'll also be partnering with community members to be doing
different art programs as well. And then we also have
a tech lab which we have we have computers and
then we have console gaming, so we'll be doing some
(02:48):
east work programs, some gaming tournaments, but also some coding programs.
We have three D printers that are hopefully coming in
this week, so we'll be running some three D printing
programs as well. Again, just all about giving teams a
safe place in the building and they can free room.
You know, they come in, they check in, and the
buildings theres and if we have a room open, they
(03:09):
can go do something whatever they want to do. And
then we'll also have rooms closed for like specific programs
that we might be doing in the building. So as
far as you know, how do I get my team
into the wreck?
Speaker 1 (03:22):
Right?
Speaker 2 (03:22):
So it's sixteen dollars a month, but that sixteen dollars
gets SLIM into the rec Center, but also get SLIM
into the YMPCA.
Speaker 1 (03:32):
Great.
Speaker 2 (03:32):
So if you're not, if your team's not a member
of the WYMPCA, they can sign up at the Y.
They can sign up at the Wreck, and that gets
them into both facilities. If your team, so again in
grade six through twelve, is already a member of the Y,
then they're already a member of the Wreck. They would
just go to the Wreck, scan their card and they're
good to go. And I do want to mention, so
(03:54):
we have two upcoming programs.
Speaker 1 (03:56):
Great, Yeah, go ahead, because we're gonna talk about the
future and things you got going on down the road.
Let's talk about some of the programs that you do
have scheduled that are there in front of you and
kind of get those going.
Speaker 2 (04:05):
Yeah. So we have a Mario Kart tournament coming up,
so it's free as long as your YMCA member gets
you in. So that's gonna be April third, five to seven.
So we have room for sixteen players. But I encourage
people to sign up on our wait list because some
people want show, some might drop off right and we
(04:26):
might be able to figure out how to squeeze a
couple more players in, but our first and second place
winners went Amazon gift cards, which is pretty cool. And
then on April eighth, we're gonna have a Minecraft Night
at the Reck. So again this is free for our
team members, and that's gonna be six to seven thirty
on April eight, and we'll have Minecraft Trivia, we'll have
(04:47):
a craft and then we'll have the game upstairs for
the kids to play, and then we'll be giving out prizes.
So Republic Theater here in town sure is giving us
movie passes and popcorn pass is to give to the
teams who win the trivia contests and some of our
gaming challenges.
Speaker 1 (05:03):
Oh I love that. Yeah, I know them all. That's
really cool. And I know you when you and I
were talking before we started recording, you were talking about
and I know some of you may not be able
to really get into, but working on partnerships with Ohio
State Marine, Marion Tech, tri Rivers, anything that involves youth
youth activities, keeping youth busy, giving them good positive folks
(05:24):
to be with, great ways to spend their time. You're
working on those. Talk about some of the ones that
you can and also kind of address how somebody in
the community that might have the ability to help with
some of these programs get involved. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (05:38):
Absolutely, So I want to say that again, this would
not be happening without our partners. We would have a
building space, we'd have furniture, but nothing would be happening
in that building. So our partners are crucial in this process.
So OSU we've had many conversations. They've helped me pick
out the three D printers. They showed me how they work.
(06:00):
So we've had conversations with them of them coming in
and doing coding with our teens, linguistic programs with our
teens assisting with their three D printing. Just as Marion Tech,
we've been having conversations about entrepreneurship programs. So we're kind
of fielding the details now when that would happen and
how that will work. But I'm excited to get them
(06:21):
in the building. They're excited to be able to, you know,
talk to teens and say hey, if you really like
this coding program, you know, this is what we do
at Marion Tech, or this is what we do at
OSUM if you want to explore more, and we're going
to be pushing those resources as much as we can, right,
you know, when they have nights on campus or at
Marin Tech or trivers, we're going to have those resources
(06:42):
for teens as well as bringing those instructors and even
students out because sometimes that peer to peer conversation teams
open their ears a little more. So we'll even have
college students out just to talk to teens about their
you know what, what what is college like? You know,
is it for me? Because we might have a you know,
a team in that building who doesn't think college is
(07:02):
for them. You know, no, I can't afford it, No,
I don't have the grades. And they might sit through
one of these conversations or be involved in one of
her programs and that opens a whole new door for them, right,
And that's our goal, That's what we want to do.
Speaker 1 (07:14):
Just give them options and opportunities and let them be
able to make a really good decision so that they
maybe don't make a bad decision, you know that kind.
Speaker 2 (07:22):
Of a thing, right, Yes, absolutely right.
Speaker 1 (07:24):
I mean same way Trive Rivers could come in and
talk about some of the programming they're doing and how
you know, how they're integrating some other things as well.
I love that idea is to just give kids options
because I feel like I hear that a lot that
it's like kids don't know what their options are. It's
either this or that. Well, no, I think there's you know,
several more in between this or that. They just have
(07:46):
to have their eyes open to it right.
Speaker 2 (07:47):
Right exactly, And that's what the Rec's all about.
Speaker 1 (07:50):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (07:51):
Again, you might have a team that's just there to
play basketball, and we might say, hey, you know Mary
and Tech or maryor and City Schools is upstairs doing
a program, why don't you go check it out? And again,
it opens a whole new world. And I do want
to mention Marrin City Schools also have been a great partner.
So we're in discussions about in the fall being able
(08:11):
to provide busting to the rec center, which will be great,
So that'll be after school. Parents would sign a waiver
for their chiw to be dropped off, as well as
being able to provide food on site this summer and
then for the school year as well.
Speaker 1 (08:25):
I love that. So what are your hours of the wreck?
I mean, when can when can these kids come and go?
Speaker 2 (08:30):
Yeah, so we're open right now. Our hours are Monday
through Thursday one to eight, so there's no time how
long they can be in the building. They can show
up at one and be there to eight. When we close.
Our summer hours are likely to change, but will announce
that way ahead of time. And you know this is
all very trial. Sure, I get we're seeing you know,
(08:51):
how active are we between one and three? How active
are we between five and eight? And then in the
fall we'll have a better idea of Hey, here's where
teams are really come in. This is when we need
to make sure we're open.
Speaker 1 (09:04):
Are there some opportunities Let's say we've got a business
in the financial world and they're interested in maybe trying
to do some programming to help kids learn a little
bit about finance or things like that. Are there opportunities
for them to partner with the why and the wreck
to be to create some programming that type of a
thing they reach out.
Speaker 2 (09:23):
Yes, so absolutely so we are all ears for any
kind of partner who wants to reach out to us,
So they can call the Y seven four zero seven
two five nine six two two or email me directly
and that's a Grimes at MARINFAMILYYMCA dot org and just
spark up a conversation. So we're all about partners. We're
(09:44):
all about pushing what's in our community and getting those
resources to the teams. So and that's anyone even if hey,
you know, I'm a retired art teacher and I might
be interested in doing one time, one time art thing.
Absolutely yeah, Or hey I want to you know, I
used to do finance or I used to do business.
Maybe I could talk to the teams about entrepreneurship. Absolutely
(10:04):
all we do is if we have volunteers in the building,
we have them do a background check and we pay
for that. But that's just for their safety and the
child safety.
Speaker 1 (10:13):
Absolutely yeah, I mean, I mean vetting people is I
love that. I mean, I think that's fantastic and definitely
it needs to be done. So that's really cool. So
a lot of opportunities there, but right now only being
open for a few weeks and getting your feet underneath
and getting things going and getting things rolling. The big
thing is for kids and their parents or their guardians
(10:34):
to stop, buy see the place, tour with you guys
and maybe talk about a membership into the organization.
Speaker 2 (10:41):
Right, yes, absolutely, and don't that's because we realized there's
barriers out there. Oh shit, And don't let when you
see that sixteen dollars a month, don't let that stop you.
You know, come out to forty West Church Street, come
out to the wreck when we're open. We'll give you
a tour. We do provide scholarships. City has offered to
(11:01):
provide funding for scholarships as well. They've been a great
partner and helping us get this building running, and they're
all for getting the teams in the building. So don't
let that stop you. We'll give you a tour, and
we can always come to a solution. We're not here
to turn anyone away. We're here to find out, okay,
if there's barriers for your team to be here, that
sit down, have a conversation and get it fixed so
(11:21):
they can come right.
Speaker 1 (11:22):
And obviously the city not only wants to help them,
wants to keep kids busy and do great things and
positive stuff. But you know, that's a great building with
a ton of life left in it. You know, you're
in there every day and it's just awesome to see
activity going on in there, and it's good, positive activity
right in downtown. I mean, there's just so many pluses too,
(11:42):
not only a location of what you're doing in the facility.
It's just got to be fun for you to have
this opportunity to write and the staff.
Speaker 2 (11:50):
Yeah, this has been a very exciting process because you know,
we started this conversations and started everything back in March,
and that included furniture. That included we received a grant
through the Marriage Community Foundation, which has been very supportive
of everything, and just doing kind of a facelift for
the building, new flooring, new paints, fixing some of the
(12:14):
damaged walls because it is an older building.
Speaker 1 (12:16):
That old building, right, so through a lot it's it's
seemed more than we have, right exactly.
Speaker 2 (12:20):
Yeah, So so it's been very exciting, and you know,
it's exciting to see the teens come in. We had
a team come in and sign up yesterday and mom
was a little nervous about it, but he had a
great time. He sat down and talked to staff, He
kind of sat and through the team leadership and listened
to what they had to say, and he was up
(12:40):
in our tech lab playing some games. So it's just
great to see the teams interacting with the staff, building
those positive role models and just using the facility well.
Speaker 1 (12:50):
And the facility is set up, and there's millions of
types of kids, you know, but you've got kids that
are really athletic, You've got kids that are into tech.
You've got ones that would rather study and meet with
their friends and read books and things like that. So
you really have space areas and support for really all
all those types of things. So really it really does.
(13:12):
And it's open for inclusion for just about anything and
not just hey you got to play basketball on Thursday nights.
It's well, we can do whatever. You know, you can
play video games, you can learn coding, you can read,
you can hang out with your friends. You know, you
can watch TV. You know that kind of a thing
in a safe environment. I love it.
Speaker 2 (13:27):
Yeah, yeah, absolutely that there's there's enough space for everyone
to find that that niche. And again we have that
gym and and a lot of it will be basketball,
but we have a pickle ball, we have table tennis,
and we're gonna be doing fun goofy stuff like we
have this three D or not three D Glow in
the Dark Dodgeball. Sure to have a Glow in the
Dark Dodgeball tournament down the road. We're working with mare
(13:51):
An Impact to do a Cops and teams basketball tournament
coming up, so we'll be announcing that here shortly. But
just a lot of a lot of different activities for
many different interests.
Speaker 1 (14:02):
I love it Andrew Grimes from the YMCA talking about
the wreck that is open and kids are encouraged to
h to go check out the wreck whe their parents
or guardians whoever it might be, and learn a lot
more about it. And membership with the wreck includes membership
with the Marion Family YMCA. We're talking tech, we're talking art,
we're talking sports, we're talking fun and good safe things
(14:25):
to do in downtown Marion at a probably historic building.
When you really start looking at the at the past
of that building and what was on that property one
hundred and twenty five years ago. I just think it's fantastic. Andrew,
thanks for coming in anything that we anything else we
need to stress. And how do people reach out to the.
Speaker 2 (14:44):
Y Yeah, and again thank you for having me so
reach out by phone seven four zero seven two five
nine six two two If you want to reach the
wreck directly our extensions two hundred, just leave a message.
If nobody answers, and again I can be reached directly
email a Crimes at Marinfamilywipeca dot org and you know, yes,
(15:05):
I'm here to talk about the rec but the Why
at our site has many different programs going on. We
got spring soccer, spring flag football cheers starting soon and
then summer camp. So if you're interested in those, please
just go to our website marionfamilywipe or Marinwipeca dot org
and check it out.
Speaker 1 (15:21):
And if you haven't been at the Why, boy, there's
a lot of changes just in the last several months
of things that are going on out there, So take
a chance stop by and give it a tour.
Joining me in studio today is Andrew Grimes. He is
a senior program director with the Marion Family YMCA. And
Andrew is one of the guys behind putting together The Wreck,
which is the recreation center as a lot of folks know,
going all the way back to the Freshman Building, as
some folks of my age and a little older are
very familiar with, that facility is now the Wreck and
(00:23):
it is the programming is put on by the Marion
Family YMCA. And Andrew, thanks for joining the show. I
know you are very excited about this project that just
got open a little while ago. So first of all,
tell everybody what is the Wreck and how is the
why involved?
Speaker 2 (00:39):
Yeah, absolutely, and thank you for having me. So the
Wreck is came about with a partnership with Marrion City,
Marrin City Schools or other partners Travers, Marin tech Osum,
Marion Public Library, the Void and many others. So the
idea behind it is just to give teams a safe
place to be in the commune, to not only have
(01:02):
recreation like the gym or video games things like that,
but resources letting them know a here's what's in your
back door. You know, you have OSUM, you have Marin Tech.
You have trivers that's engaged with the teams and give
them many possibilities, many resources that we can so everything
(01:23):
just kind of aligned. I had the grant money at
the time to furnish it. We ran a team leader
program last summer and just the partnership everything was perfect
to get the started. So we officially opened on the tenth.
So what is composed of the building. So we have
a full court gym, We have a team lounge which
is kind of a study space where they can just
(01:44):
hang out, watch TV. We have board games, we'll have
trivia nights, those kind of things. In there are team leaders,
which is a great group of teen youths. So we
have about sixty team members in that. So they do
community service projects things like that. They meet every other
Monday in there. So if we have a team hanging
out the building and they're not part of that, they're
welcome to going there and just sit in and if
(02:06):
it's for them, they can ask Toy, our team director,
more questions, or if it's that was cool, but I'm
not interested, that's fine too. But they help us. They've
helped pick paint colors, they've helped pick furniture. They help
us make decisions because we can guests all day about
what teams want, but if we ask teams directly, we're
we're gonna get the right answer.
Speaker 1 (02:25):
Absolutely.
Speaker 2 (02:26):
So upstairs we have our art Maker Space room, so
we'll be doing a lot of art programs in there.
We'll also be partnering with community members to be doing
different art programs as well. And then we also have
a tech lab which we have we have computers and
then we have console gaming, so we'll be doing some
(02:48):
east work programs, some gaming tournaments, but also some coding programs.
We have three D printers that are hopefully coming in
this week, so we'll be running some three D printing
programs as well. Again, just all about giving teams a
safe place in the building and they can free room.
You know, they come in, they check in, and the
buildings theres and if we have a room open, they
(03:09):
can go do something whatever they want to do. And
then we'll also have rooms closed for like specific programs
that we might be doing in the building. So as
far as you know, how do I get my team
into the wreck?
Speaker 1 (03:22):
Right?
Speaker 2 (03:22):
So it's sixteen dollars a month, but that sixteen dollars
gets SLIM into the rec Center, but also get SLIM
into the YMPCA.
Speaker 1 (03:32):
Great.
Speaker 2 (03:32):
So if you're not, if your team's not a member
of the WYMPCA, they can sign up at the Y.
They can sign up at the Wreck, and that gets
them into both facilities. If your team, so again in
grade six through twelve, is already a member of the Y,
then they're already a member of the Wreck. They would
just go to the Wreck, scan their card and they're
good to go. And I do want to mention, so
(03:54):
we have two upcoming programs.
Speaker 1 (03:56):
Great, Yeah, go ahead, because we're gonna talk about the
future and things you got going on down the road.
Let's talk about some of the programs that you do
have scheduled that are there in front of you and
kind of get those going.
Speaker 2 (04:05):
Yeah. So we have a Mario Kart tournament coming up,
so it's free as long as your YMCA member gets
you in. So that's gonna be April third, five to seven.
So we have room for sixteen players. But I encourage
people to sign up on our wait list because some
people want show, some might drop off right and we
(04:26):
might be able to figure out how to squeeze a
couple more players in, but our first and second place
winners went Amazon gift cards, which is pretty cool. And
then on April eighth, we're gonna have a Minecraft Night
at the Reck. So again this is free for our
team members, and that's gonna be six to seven thirty
on April eight, and we'll have Minecraft Trivia, we'll have
(04:47):
a craft and then we'll have the game upstairs for
the kids to play, and then we'll be giving out prizes.
So Republic Theater here in town sure is giving us
movie passes and popcorn pass is to give to the
teams who win the trivia contests and some of our
gaming challenges.
Speaker 1 (05:03):
Oh I love that. Yeah, I know them all. That's
really cool. And I know you when you and I
were talking before we started recording, you were talking about
and I know some of you may not be able
to really get into, but working on partnerships with Ohio
State Marine, Marion Tech, tri Rivers, anything that involves youth
youth activities, keeping youth busy, giving them good positive folks
(05:24):
to be with, great ways to spend their time. You're
working on those. Talk about some of the ones that
you can and also kind of address how somebody in
the community that might have the ability to help with
some of these programs get involved. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (05:38):
Absolutely, So I want to say that again, this would
not be happening without our partners. We would have a
building space, we'd have furniture, but nothing would be happening
in that building. So our partners are crucial in this process.
So OSU we've had many conversations. They've helped me pick
out the three D printers. They showed me how they work.
(06:00):
So we've had conversations with them of them coming in
and doing coding with our teens, linguistic programs with our
teens assisting with their three D printing. Just as Marion Tech,
we've been having conversations about entrepreneurship programs. So we're kind
of fielding the details now when that would happen and
how that will work. But I'm excited to get them
(06:21):
in the building. They're excited to be able to, you know,
talk to teens and say hey, if you really like
this coding program, you know, this is what we do
at Marion Tech, or this is what we do at
OSUM if you want to explore more, and we're going
to be pushing those resources as much as we can, right,
you know, when they have nights on campus or at
Marin Tech or trivers, we're going to have those resources
(06:42):
for teens as well as bringing those instructors and even
students out because sometimes that peer to peer conversation teams
open their ears a little more. So we'll even have
college students out just to talk to teens about their
you know what, what what is college like? You know,
is it for me? Because we might have a you know,
a team in that building who doesn't think college is
(07:02):
for them. You know, no, I can't afford it, No,
I don't have the grades. And they might sit through
one of these conversations or be involved in one of
her programs and that opens a whole new door for them, right,
And that's our goal, That's what we want to do.
Speaker 1 (07:14):
Just give them options and opportunities and let them be
able to make a really good decision so that they
maybe don't make a bad decision, you know that kind.
Speaker 2 (07:22):
Of a thing, right, Yes, absolutely right.
Speaker 1 (07:24):
I mean same way Trive Rivers could come in and
talk about some of the programming they're doing and how
you know, how they're integrating some other things as well.
I love that idea is to just give kids options
because I feel like I hear that a lot that
it's like kids don't know what their options are. It's
either this or that. Well, no, I think there's you know,
several more in between this or that. They just have
(07:46):
to have their eyes open to it right.
Speaker 2 (07:47):
Right exactly, And that's what the Rec's all about.
Speaker 1 (07:50):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (07:51):
Again, you might have a team that's just there to
play basketball, and we might say, hey, you know Mary
and Tech or maryor and City Schools is upstairs doing
a program, why don't you go check it out? And again,
it opens a whole new world. And I do want
to mention Marrin City Schools also have been a great partner.
So we're in discussions about in the fall being able
(08:11):
to provide busting to the rec center, which will be great,
So that'll be after school. Parents would sign a waiver
for their chiw to be dropped off, as well as
being able to provide food on site this summer and
then for the school year as well.
Speaker 1 (08:25):
I love that. So what are your hours of the wreck?
I mean, when can when can these kids come and go?
Speaker 2 (08:30):
Yeah, so we're open right now. Our hours are Monday
through Thursday one to eight, so there's no time how
long they can be in the building. They can show
up at one and be there to eight. When we close.
Our summer hours are likely to change, but will announce
that way ahead of time. And you know this is
all very trial. Sure, I get we're seeing you know,
(08:51):
how active are we between one and three? How active
are we between five and eight? And then in the
fall we'll have a better idea of Hey, here's where
teams are really come in. This is when we need
to make sure we're open.
Speaker 1 (09:04):
Are there some opportunities Let's say we've got a business
in the financial world and they're interested in maybe trying
to do some programming to help kids learn a little
bit about finance or things like that. Are there opportunities
for them to partner with the why and the wreck
to be to create some programming that type of a
thing they reach out.
Speaker 2 (09:23):
Yes, so absolutely so we are all ears for any
kind of partner who wants to reach out to us,
So they can call the Y seven four zero seven
two five nine six two two or email me directly
and that's a Grimes at MARINFAMILYYMCA dot org and just
spark up a conversation. So we're all about partners. We're
(09:44):
all about pushing what's in our community and getting those
resources to the teams. So and that's anyone even if hey,
you know, I'm a retired art teacher and I might
be interested in doing one time, one time art thing.
Absolutely yeah, Or hey I want to you know, I
used to do finance or I used to do business.
Maybe I could talk to the teams about entrepreneurship. Absolutely
(10:04):
all we do is if we have volunteers in the building,
we have them do a background check and we pay
for that. But that's just for their safety and the
child safety.
Speaker 1 (10:13):
Absolutely yeah, I mean, I mean vetting people is I
love that. I mean, I think that's fantastic and definitely
it needs to be done. So that's really cool. So
a lot of opportunities there, but right now only being
open for a few weeks and getting your feet underneath
and getting things going and getting things rolling. The big
thing is for kids and their parents or their guardians
(10:34):
to stop, buy see the place, tour with you guys
and maybe talk about a membership into the organization.
Speaker 2 (10:41):
Right, yes, absolutely, and don't that's because we realized there's
barriers out there. Oh shit, And don't let when you
see that sixteen dollars a month, don't let that stop you.
You know, come out to forty West Church Street, come
out to the wreck when we're open. We'll give you
a tour. We do provide scholarships. City has offered to
(11:01):
provide funding for scholarships as well. They've been a great
partner and helping us get this building running, and they're
all for getting the teams in the building. So don't
let that stop you. We'll give you a tour, and
we can always come to a solution. We're not here
to turn anyone away. We're here to find out, okay,
if there's barriers for your team to be here, that
sit down, have a conversation and get it fixed so
(11:21):
they can come right.
Speaker 1 (11:22):
And obviously the city not only wants to help them,
wants to keep kids busy and do great things and
positive stuff. But you know, that's a great building with
a ton of life left in it. You know, you're
in there every day and it's just awesome to see
activity going on in there, and it's good, positive activity
right in downtown. I mean, there's just so many pluses too,
(11:42):
not only a location of what you're doing in the facility.
It's just got to be fun for you to have
this opportunity to write and the staff.
Speaker 2 (11:50):
Yeah, this has been a very exciting process because you know,
we started this conversations and started everything back in March,
and that included furniture. That included we received a grant
through the Marriage Community Foundation, which has been very supportive
of everything, and just doing kind of a facelift for
the building, new flooring, new paints, fixing some of the
(12:14):
damaged walls because it is an older building.
Speaker 1 (12:16):
That old building, right, so through a lot it's it's
seemed more than we have, right exactly.
Speaker 2 (12:20):
Yeah, So so it's been very exciting, and you know,
it's exciting to see the teens come in. We had
a team come in and sign up yesterday and mom
was a little nervous about it, but he had a
great time. He sat down and talked to staff, He
kind of sat and through the team leadership and listened
to what they had to say, and he was up
(12:40):
in our tech lab playing some games. So it's just
great to see the teams interacting with the staff, building
those positive role models and just using the facility well.
Speaker 1 (12:50):
And the facility is set up, and there's millions of
types of kids, you know, but you've got kids that
are really athletic, You've got kids that are into tech.
You've got ones that would rather study and meet with
their friends and read books and things like that. So
you really have space areas and support for really all
all those types of things. So really it really does.
(13:12):
And it's open for inclusion for just about anything and
not just hey you got to play basketball on Thursday nights.
It's well, we can do whatever. You know, you can
play video games, you can learn coding, you can read,
you can hang out with your friends. You know, you
can watch TV. You know that kind of a thing
in a safe environment. I love it.
Speaker 2 (13:27):
Yeah, yeah, absolutely that there's there's enough space for everyone
to find that that niche. And again we have that
gym and and a lot of it will be basketball,
but we have a pickle ball, we have table tennis,
and we're gonna be doing fun goofy stuff like we
have this three D or not three D Glow in
the Dark Dodgeball. Sure to have a Glow in the
Dark Dodgeball tournament down the road. We're working with mare
(13:51):
An Impact to do a Cops and teams basketball tournament
coming up, so we'll be announcing that here shortly. But
just a lot of a lot of different activities for
many different interests.
Speaker 1 (14:02):
I love it Andrew Grimes from the YMCA talking about
the wreck that is open and kids are encouraged to
h to go check out the wreck whe their parents
or guardians whoever it might be, and learn a lot
more about it. And membership with the wreck includes membership
with the Marion Family YMCA. We're talking tech, we're talking art,
we're talking sports, we're talking fun and good safe things
(14:25):
to do in downtown Marion at a probably historic building.
When you really start looking at the at the past
of that building and what was on that property one
hundred and twenty five years ago. I just think it's fantastic. Andrew,
thanks for coming in anything that we anything else we
need to stress. And how do people reach out to the.
Speaker 2 (14:44):
Y Yeah, and again thank you for having me so
reach out by phone seven four zero seven two five
nine six two two If you want to reach the
wreck directly our extensions two hundred, just leave a message.
If nobody answers, and again I can be reached directly
email a Crimes at Marinfamilywipeca dot org and you know, yes,
(15:05):
I'm here to talk about the rec but the Why
at our site has many different programs going on. We
got spring soccer, spring flag football cheers starting soon and
then summer camp. So if you're interested in those, please
just go to our website marionfamilywipe or Marinwipeca dot org
and check it out.
Speaker 1 (15:21):
And if you haven't been at the Why, boy, there's
a lot of changes just in the last several months
of things that are going on out there, So take
a chance stop by and give it a tour.
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